Rather than wait for the world to be transformed by AI in the distant future, we should pay careful attention to shaping the field’s progress in a more secure direction, especially when it comes to applications as vitally important as nuclear.

Nuclear weapons and related systems are increasingly vulnerable to sophisticated cyberattacks, and nuclear-armed states must cooperate and accelerate efforts to prevent an attack that could have catastrophic consequences.

The Nuclear Threat Initiative is looking for innovative new ways to use the NTI Nuclear Security Index rankings and data to improve understanding of the way nuclear materials and facilities are secured around the world and to highlight needs and spur action among governments.

Our Priorities

Military Materials Security Study Group

Challenge

Approximately 2,000 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear materials is not subject to any international security standard.

Action

NTI convened a study group of prominent leaders in the military, political and technical sectors from key nuclear-armed states to address this issue.

Results

The Military Materials Study Group released a series of recommendations to tighten control of military and non-civilian nuclear materials to build international confidence in their security.

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Despite the recent high-level attention paid to global
nuclear materials security through three head-of-state Nuclear Security
Summits, there remains a critical gap: 83 percent of the approximately 2,000
metric ton global inventory of weapons-usable nuclear materials--plutonium and
highly enriched uranium--is categorized as "military" and is not
subject to any international security standards or oversight mechanisms.

To address this gap, NTI has convened a study group of prominent leaders in the military, political and technical sectors from key nuclear-armed states, led by NTI Co-Chairman and former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn, Lugar Center President and former U.S. Senator Richard Lugar and NTI Vice Chairman and former U.K. Defense Secretary Des Browne. The study group's work builds on more than two decades of work to secure nuclear weapons and materials under the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program.

NTI first highlighted this issue as part of its Global Dialogue on Nuclear Security Priorities, an ongoing forum providing thought leadership to strengthen global nuclear security. World leaders at the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit called for states to maintain effective security of all nuclear materials, including those used in nuclear weapons but offered no concrete recommendations to improve the security of these and other military materials. This material falls into diverse categories, ranging from active warheads to naval fuel to material declared excess.

Many assume military materials are held to a higher standard and are better secured than civilian materials, but a series of high-profile incidents suggest otherwise. In 2012, an 82 year-old nun and her two fellow peace activists broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the United States stores most of its military HEU. In 2007, U.S. Air Force personnel mistakenly loaded six cruise missiles with nuclear warheads onto a bomber and flew it across the country, leaving the nuclear weapons unguarded on a runway for 36 hours. More recently, stewards of nuclear weapons in the United States and United Kingdom have made headlines for falling asleep on the job and other negligent practices.

The study group's specific recommendations were published in November 2015 to tighten control of military and non-civilian materials and to build international confidence in the effectiveness of their security, while still protecting sensitive information.

Latest Activity

NTI News

A new report, Bridging the Military Nuclear Materials Gap, highlights a critical gap in global nuclear security efforts and offers recommendations for governments to tighten control and build confidence in the security of nuclear materials categorized as “military materials.”